Economy & War

Some things, such as war, may be necessary, but they are not “good” in anyway. The myth of war is bad but it is good for the economy is far from the truth. As Andrew explains he states, “This myth comes from an offshoot of Keynesian economics, which says war stimulates aggregate demand and therefore gets the economy going again.” The same people who believe this kind of myth are probably the people that believe that the Great Depression ended only when spending for World War II began. Neither of these could be true because wars are destructive and instead of using resources for human needs they are used for human destruction.

After World War II, Britain went nearly bankrupt and had to liquidate their empire. France, Germany, Japan, and Italy were also burnt to the ground. After World War I, the United States went into a severe recession, while Germany’s currency hyper inflated. The Austrian, Ottoman and Russian Empires all simply collapsed. The Civil War caused the South to reduce to nearly rubble and the North suffered runaway inflation. In addition, the United States suffered from recession right after the Korean War, Gulf War and Serbian War. The Soviet Union collapsed after war in Afghanistan. Many other wars also resulted in damage to a country’s economy. In some ways, war may provide a short term economic boost, but it does not stimulate the economy in any meaningful long term sense.

Andrew. "Is War Good For the Economy? - Sorry, War Is Not Good For the Economy." SwiftEconomics.com. 21 Mar. 2009. Web. 03 May 2011. .